--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Unlike sociology, a pariah science that…" description: "\"“Unlike sociology, a pariah science that is always under suspicion for its supposed political leanings, and from which the powerful expect nothing but ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e96/pierre-bourdieu-16809_economics_unlike-sociology-a-pariah-science-that-i_1401948.jpg" --- # Unlike sociology, a pariah science that is always under… ![“Unlike sociology, a pariah science that is always under suspicion for its supposed political leanings, and from which the powerful expect nothing but a minor, generally somewhat ancillary knowledge of techniques of manipulation or legitimation, and which, as a result, is less exposed than other…” quote by Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e96/pierre-bourdieu-16809_economics_unlike-sociology-a-pariah-science-that-i_1401948.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e96/pierre-bourdieu-16809_economics_unlike-sociology-a-pariah-science-that-i_1401948.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e96/pierre-bourdieu-16809_economics_unlike-sociology-a-pariah-science-that-i_1401948.jpg) > ““Unlike sociology, a pariah science that is always under suspicion for its supposed political leanings, and from which the powerful expect nothing but a minor, generally somewhat ancillary knowledge of techniques of manipulation or legitimation, and which, as a result, is less exposed than other disciplines to demands likely to threaten its independence, economics is always more of a state science and is, as a result, haunted by state thinking: being constantly preoccupied with the normative concerns of an applied science, it is dependent on responding politically to political demands, while at the same time defending itself against any charge of political involvement by the ostentatiously lofty character of its formal, and preferably mathematical, constructions. It”” [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Economics is portrayed as a discipline tightly linked to state power, constantly responding to political demands while trying to appear neutral through formal, mathematical methods. **In simple terms:** Economics is seen as a state‑influenced science that hides its political nature behind formalism. Key Takeaway Recognize and question the political influences behind economic theories. Themes politics economics state influence methodology independence Mood critical analytical skeptical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - policy analysis - academic research - public discourse - government advisory - educational curricula Key Concepts state theory political economy normative analysis Questions to Reflect On - How does formal modeling conceal political bias? - Can economics be truly neutral? A Different Perspective Economics may still produce objective insights despite political pressures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) [Economics State](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics-state-4916093/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science Suspicion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-suspicion-4916095/) [State Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/state-science-3004202/) [State Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/state-thinking-4321967/) [Unlike Sociology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unlike-sociology-4916094/) ## Related quotes > [Science always goes abreast with the just elevation of the man, keeping step with religion and metaphysics; or, the state of science is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/science-always-goes-abreast-with-the-just-elevation-of-the-man/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Too often, people get stuck in a state of over-thinking, the result is that they never reach a decision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-backley/too-often-people-get-stuck-in-a-state-of-over-thinking-the-result-is/) [Steve Backley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-backley/) > [You have to live in a state of thinking your painting is good, or you couldn't do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-de-grey/you-have-to-live-in-a-state-of-thinking-your-painting-is-good-or-you/) [Roger de Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-de-grey/) > [“Everything economic science posits as given, that is, the range of dispositions of the economic agent which ground the illusion of the ahistorical universality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/everything-economic-science-posits-as-given-that-is-the-range-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Economists think about what people ought to do. Psychologists watch what they actually do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-kahneman/economists-think-about-what-people-ought-to-do-psychologists-watch/) [Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/) > [The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/the-system-of-private-property-is-the-most-important-guaranty-of/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [“a select group of high-performing companies have managed to close the strategy-to-performance gap through better planning and execution. These companies—Barclays, Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-c-mankins/a-select-group-of-high-performing-companies-have-managed-to-close-the/) [Michael C. Mankins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-mankins/) > [Having an economy that works for the 99% is achievable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winnie-byanyima/having-an-economy-that-works-for-the-99-is-achievable/) [Winnie Byanyima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winnie-byanyima/) > [Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-rudd/politics-is-about-power-it-is-about-the-power-of-the-state-it-is/) [Kevin Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-rudd/) > [“The free-market economy and globalisation process have brought about, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, a sharp and sudden rise in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yaakov-malkin/the-free-market-economy-and-globalisation-process-have-brought-about/) [Yaakov Malkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yaakov-malkin/) > [Our engagement through international economics, trade, these trade agreements, is vital and is linked to our national security. This is a lesson we learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-boustany/our-engagement-through-international-economics-trade-these-trade/) [Charles Boustany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-boustany/) > [Advances in technology will continue to reach far into every sector of our economy. Future job and economic growth in industry, defense, transportation, agriculture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-bond/advances-in-technology-will-continue-to-reach-far-into-every-sector/) [Christopher Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-bond/) > [Our biggest challenge is to eliminate the popular perception that economists don't have anything useful to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zandi/our-biggest-challenge-is-to-eliminate-the-popular-perception-that/) [Mark Zandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zandi/) > [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [Don't let's lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/don-t-let-s-lose-sight-of-what-creates-wealth-it-is-open-markets-it/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) ## More by Pierre Bourdieu > [“Everything economic science posits as given, that is, the range of dispositions of the economic agent which ground the illusion of the ahistorical universality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/everything-economic-science-posits-as-given-that-is-the-range-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Every established order tends to produce the naturalization of its own arbitrariness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/every-established-order-tends-to-produce-the-naturalization-of-its/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Symbolic violence is violence wielded with tacit complicity between its victims and its agents, insofar as both remain unconscious of submitting to or wielding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/symbolic-violence-is-violence-wielded-with-tacit-complicity-between/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Algeria is what allowed me to accept myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/algeria-is-what-allowed-me-to-accept-myself/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [“While economics is about how people make choice, sociology is about how they don’t have any choice to make. Bertrand Russell”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/while-economics-is-about-how-people-make-choice-sociology-is-about/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [“The radical questionnings announced by philosophy are in fact circumscribed by the interests linked to membership in the philosophical field, that is, to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-radical-questionnings-announced-by-philosophy-are-in-fact/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [“The science called ‘economics’ is based on an initial act of abstraction that consists in dissociating a particular category of practices, or a particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-science-called-economics-is-based-on-an-initial-act-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [“The entire destiny of modern linguistics is in fact determined by Saussure's inaugural act through which he separates the ‘external’ elements of linguistics from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-entire-destiny-of-modern-linguistics-is-in-fact-determined-by/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [The point of my work is to show that culture and education arent simply hobbies or minor influences. They are hugely important in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-point-of-my-work-is-to-show-that-culture-and-education-arent/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Unless saved by exceptional talent, he necessarily pays a price for clarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/unless-saved-by-exceptional-talent-he-necessarily-pays-a-price-for/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Photography itself is most frequently nothing but the reproduction of the image that a group produces of its own integration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/photography-itself-is-most-frequently-nothing-but-the-reproduction-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Only in imaginary experience (in the folk tale, for example), which neutralizes the sense of social realities, does the social world take the form…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/only-in-imaginary-experience-in-the-folk-tale-for-example-which/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [“A number of ethical, aesthetic, psychiatric or forensic classfications that are produced by the "institutional sciences",not to mention those produced and inculcated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/a-number-of-ethical-aesthetic-psychiatric-or-forensic-classfications/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [The mind is a metaphor of the world of objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-mind-is-a-metaphor-of-the-world-of-objects/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Television enjoys a de facto monopoly on what goes into the heads of a significant part of the population and what they think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/television-enjoys-a-de-facto-monopoly-on-what-goes-into-the-heads-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) [Explore all 38 Pierre Bourdieu quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) ## More Economics quotes > [Don't let's lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/don-t-let-s-lose-sight-of-what-creates-wealth-it-is-open-markets-it/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) > [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [Our biggest challenge is to eliminate the popular perception that economists don't have anything useful to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zandi/our-biggest-challenge-is-to-eliminate-the-popular-perception-that/) [Mark Zandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zandi/) > [Advances in technology will continue to reach far into every sector of our economy. Future job and economic growth in industry, defense, transportation, agriculture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-bond/advances-in-technology-will-continue-to-reach-far-into-every-sector/) [Christopher Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-bond/) > [Our engagement through international economics, trade, these trade agreements, is vital and is linked to our national security. This is a lesson we learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-boustany/our-engagement-through-international-economics-trade-these-trade/) [Charles Boustany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-boustany/) > [“The free-market economy and globalisation process have brought about, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, a sharp and sudden rise in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yaakov-malkin/the-free-market-economy-and-globalisation-process-have-brought-about/) [Yaakov Malkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yaakov-malkin/) > [“Everything economic science posits as given, that is, the range of dispositions of the economic agent which ground the illusion of the ahistorical universality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/everything-economic-science-posits-as-given-that-is-the-range-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-rudd/politics-is-about-power-it-is-about-the-power-of-the-state-it-is/) [Kevin Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-rudd/) > [Having an economy that works for the 99% is achievable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winnie-byanyima/having-an-economy-that-works-for-the-99-is-achievable/) [Winnie Byanyima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winnie-byanyima/) > [“a select group of high-performing companies have managed to close the strategy-to-performance gap through better planning and execution. These companies—Barclays, Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-c-mankins/a-select-group-of-high-performing-companies-have-managed-to-close-the/) [Michael C. Mankins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-mankins/) > [The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/the-system-of-private-property-is-the-most-important-guaranty-of/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [Economists think about what people ought to do. Psychologists watch what they actually do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-kahneman/economists-think-about-what-people-ought-to-do-psychologists-watch/) [Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/) > [The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-politician-attempts-to-remedy-the-evil-by-increasing-the-very/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [As the variable capital always stays in the hands of the capitalist in some form or other, it cannot be claimed in any way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/as-the-variable-capital-always-stays-in-the-hands-of-the-capitalist/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) [Browse all 7,788 Economics quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Unlike sociology, a pariah science that is always under suspicion for its supposed political leanings, and from which the powerful expect nothing but a minor, generally somewhat ancillary knowledge of techniques of manipulation or legitimation, and which, as a result, is less exposed than other disciplines to demands likely to threaten its independence, economics is always more of a state science and is, as a result, haunted by state thinking: being constantly preoccupied with the normative concerns of an applied science, it is dependent on responding politically to political demands, while at the same time defending itself against any charge of political involvement by the ostentatiously lofty character of its formal, and preferably mathematical, constructions. 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